Industry News of the Day for February 14, 2019

New Jersey:

• Asbury Park Press, 2.13.19 – NJ sports betting: NFL, Super Bowl produces biggest month ever
  • Everyone expected the Super Bowl to the big test of how popular sports betting would be in New Jersey. And according to numbers released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement on Wednesday, it’s extremely popular.
• AP, 2.13.19 – New Jersey saw $385M in sport bets in Super Bowl run-up
  • Gamblers betting on the NFL playoffs online or over their phones during the January run-up to the Super Bowl helped make more than $385 million in sports bets in New Jersey.
• Online Poker Report, 2.13.19 – New Jersey Online Casinos Shatter Monthly Revenue Record … Again!
  • The winter chill blanketing the northeast has brought a veritable blizzard of cash to online casinos in New Jersey. While land-based casino revenue slipped more than six percent in annual comparisons, quite the opposite materialized for their online counterparts.
• Legal Sports Report, 2.13.19 – NJ Sports Betting Sets New Record, Nears $400 Million In Wagers In January
  • New Jersey sports betting continued to grow despite less football to bet on in January. The state’s sportsbook operators took more than $385 million in wagers last month, the biggest month in the short history of NJ sports betting. That figure reflects both online and retail sportsbook wagering, with the former accounting for almost 80 percent of total activity.
• NJ Online Gambling, 2.13.19 – New Jersey Sports Betting Industry Sees Record Wagering, Fueled Almost Entirely By Online
  • Every month, lawmakers in states mulling over sports betting legislation get an increasingly strong reminder that without full-fledged online wagering, they might as well not pass a bill.
• The Action Network, 2.13.19 – New Jersey Sets Another Sports Betting Handle Record in January
  • New Jersey saw gamblers bet $385 million in January, a record in the seven full months it has been taking legal sports bets. The stats from the month, reported Wednesday by the Department of Gaming Enforcement, was buoyed by the NFL. All playoff games but the Super Bowl were included.
• NJ Gambling Sites, 2.13.19 – NJ Sports Betting Handle Soars To $385 Million In January With $18.8 Million Revenue
  • When talking about NJ sports betting numbers for January, the biggest question is how big a role would the NFL playoffs play? Based on numbers released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement on Wednesday, it’s clearly a very big one to the tune of a record handle of $385,279,662 million.
• NJ Online Gambling, 2.13.19 – Online Sportsbook Crossover Traffic Contributes To Record Busting January For NJ Online Casinos
  • NJ online casinos kicked off the year not with a bang, but an absolute explosion. The state’s seven iGaming licensees raked in a whopping $33.59 million total in January, crushing their previous record by more than $4.5 million.
• Play NJ, 2.12.19 – Resorts Casino Flexing Its Muscle In Sports Betting, Online Gambling In New Jersey
  • Since its entry into the New Jersey online gambling arena in February 2015, Resorts Casino Hotel has been punching well above its weight.
• NJ Biz, 2.13.19 – Mobile, digital grows as sports betting falls flat at racetracks and casinos
  • The sports betting handle – or total amount of money wagered by bettors – for New Jersey’s brick and mortar casinos and racetracks has floundered for nearly half a year, while online and mobile sport gambling continues to soar, according to recent data from the state’s gaming regulators.
• NJ Online Gambling, 2.12.19 – Climate Change: The 2019 New Jersey Sports Betting Revenue Forecast
  • In the first partial year of legal sports betting in New Jersey — spanning 6½ months, just five of which featured mobile/online wagering — the total amount risked by customers was $1.25 billion.
• NJ Online Gambling, 2.12.19 – New Jerseyan Denied In Bid To Make Out-Of-State Online Horse Racing Bets
  • New Jersey is known as one of the most gambling-friendly states — and forever so, since the U.S. Supreme Court backed its bid to eliminate Nevada’s near-monopoly on sports betting in May 2018.
• NJ Online Gambling, 2.13.19 – Meadowlands Saddles Up With Cg Technology, Plans To Add Betting Kiosks
  • NJ sports betting is expanding once again, and this time the new site comes via a partnership with Meadowlands Racetrack. Nevada-based CG Technology is the newest player to announce plans to launch an NJ mobile sportsbook. Those who frequent Las Vegas sportsbooks may recognize the name.

West Virginia:

• Poker News Report, 2.13.19 – West Virginia Lawmakers Introduce New Online Gambling Bill
  • Just one month after an online gambling bill was introduced in West Virginia, Mountain State lawmakers have proposed yet another.
• Card Player, 2.13.19 – West Virginia Introduces Legislation To Legalize All Forms Of Online Gaming
  • West Virginia is going all in on gambling. Lawmakers in the state, led by Del. Jason Barrett, introduced the West Virginia Lottery Interactive Wagering Act, HB 2934, on Friday. If passed, the bill would legalize all forms of online gambling and allow for online casinos in the state.
• Metro News, 2.13.19 – Satellite casino bill moving along in the House of Delegates
  • West Virginia’s four racetrack-casinos will be allowed to establish secondary locations within the counties they’re situated in a bill House Judiciary approved Wednesday.
• Gambling Insider, 2.12.19 – Online gaming bill proposed in West Virginia
  • A bipartisan group of lawmakers are attempting to bring licensed online casinos to West Virginia. Sports betting was legalized in the state 11 months ago and now a group of lawmakers, led by Delegate Jason Barrett, are seeking further expansion.

Minnesota:

• CBS News Minnesota, 2.13.19 – Minnesota 1 Of 30 States Trying To Legalize Sports Betting
  • Minnesota lawmakers are making a move to legalize sports betting. A bill allowing Minnesotans to make bets on games will be introduced Wednesday.
• Sports Handle, 2.13.19 – Bill To Legalize Sports Betting At Minnesota-Based Tribes Announced
  • A month after the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association sent a letter to Minnesota legislative leaders opposing off-reservation sports betting, a state representative has announced that he will file a bill that would legalize sports betting on “tribal casino premises only.” Representative Pat Garofalo (R-District 58B) held a press conference Wednesday morning and shared details of the bill he plans to file on Thursday in the Democratically controlled House.
• Twin Cities Pioneer Press, 2.13.19 – MN legal sports betting? First proposal made at Capitol. Here are the odds.
  • A pair of Republican lawmakers Wednesday made the first pitch for legalized sports betting in Minnesota following last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that opened the door to the idea.
• Legal Sports Report, 2.13.19 – Minnesota Sports Betting Gets A Big Push, But Will Tribes Give Their Blessing?
  • Tribal casinos in Minnesota might be next on deck for regulated sports betting. On Wednesday, Rep. Pat Garofalo unveiled a new MN sports betting bill as part of a press conference in the capital. Garofalo has been the primary spark for related discussions in Saint Paul over the past year, an effort which has finally spawned a piece of proposed legislation.
• FOX 9, 2.13.19 – In push for legal sports betting, lawmakers hear concerns over reservation lands
  • Minnesota lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday, hoping the state will fall in line with others when it comes to legal sports betting. Rep. Pat Garofalo evokes the spirit of competition to push his bill though the state legislature.

Rhode Island:

• Sports Handle, 2.13.19 – Rhode Island Senate Approves Mobile Sports Betting Measure
  • With little fanfare and only one senator speaking in opposition, the Rhode Island Senate on Wednesday passed S 37, 30-4. The measure would legalize state-wide mobile sports betting requiring in-person registration at one of the state’s two casinos, Twin River or Tiverton, both owned by the Twin River Management Group. The measure will now be sent to the House for its approval.
• Providence Journal, 2.13.19 – Mobile sports gambling in R.I. is on the fast track
  • Rhode Island’s proposed venture into online sports gambling sped through the state Senate Wednesday despite concerns it will contribute to problem gambling and create a monopoly ultimately costing the state money.
• WPRI, 2.13.19 – RI Senate approves mobile sports betting legislation
  • Mobile sports betting is one step closer to becoming a reality in Rhode Island after the Senate voted to allow mobile wagering through the Twin River casinos in Lincoln and Tiverton.

Pennsylvania:

• Play Pennsylvania, 2.13.19 – PA Legislator Wants Sports Betting Taxes To Provide Property Tax Relief
  • The rewards of legalized sports betting in Pennsylvania could soon find a new destination. A proposed amendment to Title 4 (Amusements) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes aims to use taxed revenue from PA sports betting to “provide property tax relief” for Keystone State residents.

Tennessee:

• The Tennessean, 2.13.19 – Could this be the year sports betting is legalized in Tennessee? Republicans, Democrats support it
  • While Republican Gov. Bill Lee has said he morally opposes legalizing gambling, Democrats and Republicans in the Volunteer State have filed legislation this session that would legalize forms of sports betting.

Kentucky:

• AP, 2.13.19 – Analysis says sports betting could generate $20M annually in Kentucky
  • Legal sports betting in Kentucky could be worth at least $20 million a year in new taxes, with most of it going to the state’s struggling public pension systems, according to an analysis of a proposal in the House of Representatives.
• LEX 18, 2.13.19 – Lawmakers Question If Online Gambling Can Help Fund Pension System
  • Can online gambling help Kentucky’s underfunded pension system? That’s a question lawmakers are thinking about as they consider a bill that could legalize online bets.

South Dakota:

• AP, 2.13.19 – Port Yankton Casino Plan Heads To State Senate Floor
  • A measure to put a proposed casino complex in Yankton on the ballot has narrowly survived its first legislative test.
• AP, 2.13.19 – Sports betting in Deadwood? Senate endorses asking voters
  • The South Dakota Senate passed a measure Wednesday that would ask voters to allow sports betting in Deadwood, a plan supporters said would help keep the historic mining town competitive as a gambling destination.

Kansas:

• KSHB, 2.13.19 – Regulating sports betting in Kansas
  • Sports betting has been done in the dark for years, now Kansas lawmakers are working to regulate it. “Go ahead and make it legal so the state can benefit from it,” said Kim Ledbetter.
• Card Player, 2.13.19 – Lobbyists To Kansas Government: ‘Leave Sports Betting To Casinos’
  • Lobbyists made their way to Topeka on Tuesday to discourage lawmakers in Kansas from having the government run their own sportsbooks.

Indiana:

• Sports Handle, 2.13.19 – Indiana Spent Over Four Years, Untold Resources To Arrest A Single Bar Owner For Sports Betting
  • Perhaps nothing better speaks to the need for legal and regulated sports betting in the Hoosier State than last week’s arrest of a bar owner for allegedly taking bets on sporting events.

New York:

• Gaming Today, 2.12.19 – New Yorkers split over online sports wagering
  • New York voters are split right down the middle on whether the state should legalize online betting on sports events, through smartphone apps and computer servers, according to a new Siena College poll.

Washington:

• iGaming Business, 2.12.19 – Tribal sports betting bill filed in Washington State
  • A group of eight Washington Representatives have put forward a new bill that would legalize sports betting at tribal gaming facilities in the state. House Bill 1975 would permit tribal casinos to offer sports wagering both in-person and via the internet, but does not include specific reference to mobile activities.

Colorado:

• Denver ABC, 2.13.19 – If put to a vote, would you support sports betting in Colorado?
  • Jay Korengay, the executive vice president of operations at the Superbook in Las Vegas and a graduate of Colorado State University, understands the state’s love of sports and politics, but cautions it won’t bring the money that the marijuana industry has poured into the state since it was legalized in 2012.

Federal News:

• Online Poker Report, 2.13.19 – Gambling States And Stakeholders Join Chorus Of Opposition To Wire Act Opinion
  • The US Department of Justice unleashed a cloud of uncertainty in December when it published a reinterpretation of the 1961 Wire Act and its applicability to online gambling. The new opinion rescinded the one from 2011, which had limited the scope of the federal law to sports betting.
• Online Poker Report, 2.13.19 – MGM CEO: ‘Powerball Isn’t Legal Anymore’ Under Strict Reading Of Controversial Wire Act Opinion
  • The top executive for MGM Resorts International certainly took notice of the Department of Justice’s new interpretation of the federal Wire Act. And he’s evidently not a fan.
• Sentinel & Enterprise, 2.13.19 – Online gambling push hits snag with federal ruling
  • While she is in the nation’s capital this week, state Treasurer Deborah Goldberg is planning to meet with members of the state’s congressional delegation to discuss how a Department of Justice ruling could affect her wish to see the Massachusetts Lottery begin selling products online.

Sports League News:

• AP, 2.13.19 – Place your bets: NASCAR pushes its chips on sports gambling
  • Brendan Gaughan is the son of a casino magnate and has long grasped the allure of throwing down a few bucks to wager on a sporting event.
• AP, 2.13.19 – Gamblers bet on new US football league despite no history
  • Almost no one knows the players and there’s virtually no history to look back on. But that’s not stopping gamblers from making — and bookmakers from taking — bets on America’s newest professional football league, the Alliance of American Football (AAF).

Overall Industry News:

• The Press-Enterprise, 2.11.19 – 5 ways casinos can attract younger generations of slots players
  • Millennials and Generation Xers may already go to concerts, dine and shop when they visit a casino, but how do you get them on the gaming floor? They need to be engaged to keep the market going, according to a panel of top casino gaming executives speaking at the Western Indian Gaming Conference at Harrah’s Resort Southern California last week.